Woot! A new regular strip is up. Big thanks go out to Brittany, who went above and beyond (working late) to get this one done in time to post!

As always, toughts and criticisms are appreciated.

If you enjoy Loaded Dice, please vote today's strip up at reddit.

Yep she was up late, I got to watch some of her work last night on the webshare, really spiffy.

Hope to watch again sometime.

I'd like to watch her draw. I'm encouraging her to make this a regular occurence.

I can guess where this is going for Faustus.

How am *I* cruel? I'm not the DM of this game!

... I too got to watch Jing drawing this strip last night... it was amazing watching how fast she was with things... definately some great talent there!

As to the story... I too think I see where this is going... things dont appear as they seem to the PCs ... I feel for them... I too have fell pray to this in the past... but it is a lesson learned... and a enjoyable story .. carry on the good work!

Classic tension here between player and character. As a group they might know that it's a trap and they should be more cautious but, when it comes down to it, you gotta play your character even if they are a brash, foolhardy hero type that gets the whole gang into trouble, I mean that's why D&D, ultimately, is so much fun for the players and the DM! Anyway, fun strip, I'm excited to see where the adventure takes them.

-Dragonblood

I think Fastus fell victim to the "Judging a book by its cover" trap.

From the look on the beast man's face, either he just saved that girl by killing the other, or it is a coward that only attacks young girls.

I had a similar situation happen to me in a game once, a dwarven old woman stabbed my character for no reason and I killed her out right. She was under a compulsion that made her see me as a monster so she attacked out of fear (like a cornered animal).

That is. . .one HUGE wagon there! Did anyone else notice how Faustus' sword cut through the beast's arm on its way to the chest? Yay for bonus gore!

Steve has got to be up to something really devious--I don't feel he's the type of DM who mollycoddles his players with cheap kills after they whine about tough monsters for however long. I think Amy's with me on this owing to her silence in the last panel.

Jing, I'm really liking your close-ups of the players in this strip, plus the expressions of Amy, Ray and Rich in the last panel. The only constructive criticism I can offer here is that when you have large panels that are relatively simple (panels 5 through 7) maybe just a little more detail like on Faustus' pauldrons (shoulder pieces), or on the beast's face. Something as small as little black pupils in the beast's red eyes would have made him way scarier and intimidating at least for me. You really do the hair of your subject's justice, and the mortal wound on the girl in panel 5 was just right--it's there, but not too gruesome. Speaking of details, that whitish zigzag on the beast's head. . .it seems out of place somehow. Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but could it be some tribal tattoo or mark of it's master (like the white hand sported by the Uruk-Hai). I can't shake the idea that it's important to the story. . .hmmmm.

Love the strip. I did think that beast looked a bit too scared. I also noticed how the little girl seems to slink away in the last panel. I don't think see is all she seems to be.

Long time no new comic. Im sure there is something up so no worries. Just letting T_catt11 and Jing know Im missing it.